BAKU, October 11. /TASS/. Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov has noted the active role of American and British intelligence services in fomenting a "belt of instability" in Afghanistan near the southern borders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), where the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) terrorist groups (outlawed in Russia) are being reinforced.

"The US and British intelligence services are playing the leading role in destabilizing the situation in the vicinity of Afghanistan. The CIA and MI6 are restoring their intelligence presence in a number of Afghanistan’s key provinces. The possibility of re-establishing US bases in the country is being considered," he stressed at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services, which is taking place under his chairmanship in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. That said, according to Bortnikov, the Western intel agencies continue to foster dissent within the leadership of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) and undermine Kabul’s efforts to restore the national economy and implement infrastructure projects with the participation of third countries.

"The main efforts are focused on shaping ‘the belt of instability’ on the CIS’ southern borders. Toward this end, recruitment is underway of militants from international terrorist organizations operating in Iraq, Syria, and a number of other Asian and African countries, as well as their redeployment to Afghanistan’s north. At several training camps, the bandits are trained to use modern weapons, including from the arsenals left behind by the Western coalition, drones, and cutting-edge means of communication and reconnaissance," the FSB chief said.

"We are noting the growing role of Al-Qaeda, which together with a local IS affiliate, Wilayat Khorasan (outlawed in Russia), is actively participating in providing training, indoctrination and material and technical support for groups under their control," Bortnikov pointed out.

"In connection with this, we see it as entirely predictable that the US and NATO have precisely now, under the guise of containing the Afghan terrorist threat, begun actively foisting their services for military, technical and border security assistance on our [CIS] partners among the Central Asian republics. We are confident that their goal is to militarily colonize the CIS space and introduce new lines of division between [CIS member states]," Bortnikov emphasized.